Pitoniak: Fair is Excellent

Pitoniak: Fair is Excellent

He had been arguably Syracuse's most consistent player throughout the regular season.

But once March Madness commenced, C.J. Fair's game went AWOL.

The
sophomore forward wound up making just two-of-17 shots and scoring a
measly 10 points in the Orangemen's two Big East tournament games and
first two NCAA games combined.

The slump prompted many to wonder if Fair was sick or injured.

But the day before SU's Sweet Sixteen matchup against Wisconsin, he insisted he was neither.

"I'm good to go,'' he told reporters. "And (Thursday's) a good day to show people I'm ready."

Well, Thursday night arrived and Fair showed he was more than ready.

The
6-foot-8 forward from Baltimore scored 15 points on seven-of-nine
shooting from the field, hauled in seven rebounds and made four steals
as the top-seeded Orangemen survived a torrid shooting
night by the Badgers and escaped with a 64-63 win in Boston.

The win
advances SU to the Elite Eight on Saturday evening, marking the first
time since their national championship season in 2003 that they've gone
this deep in the NCAAs. Remarkably, this is
only the fifth time in Jim Boeheim's illustrious 36-year coaching career
that Syracuse has made it this far.

Fair's
return to his old self couldn't have come at a better time because James
Southerland, who had scored 15 points in each of the two previous
games, put up a goose egg against the Badgers.

The
Orange also received an energy boost off the bench from sophomore center
Baye Keita. Starter Rakeem Christmas was hamstrung by foul problems
early and Keita wound up contributing five rebounds
and four points in 28 minutes before fouling out.

SU needed
every point it could muster against the Badgers, who had entered the
game with the nation's stingiest defense (52 ppg. allowed). Wisconsin
converted 14 3's - the most SU has allowed this
season - and at one point in the second half had nailed six in a row
from beyond the arc. But the Orangemen's rangy zone really clamped down
on the Badgers deep shooters down the stretch, and Wisconsin missed its
final five shots, including a bomb from about
30 feet that Jordan Taylor forced up with three seconds remaining and SU
up by a point.

Credit
Waiters for playing air-tight defense on that final possession. Taylor
clanged his shot and Josh Easser's rebound and desperation putback
didn't come close as the buzzer sounded.

After dealing with the initial shock of center Fab Melo's suspension
just before the NCAAs tipped off, the Orangemen appear to have
rediscovered their
swagger. Against a very good Wisconsin team, they once again
demonstrated their explosiveness, reeling off a 22-6 run toward the end
of the first half that gave them a seemingly commanding 10-point lead.
But a careless foul by Christmas and a sloppy pass by
Jardine resulted in a four-point run by the Badgers to end the half.

The lead changed
hands several times in the second half. With SU up by one and just 18.9
seconds remaining Kris Joseph went to the line for a one-and-one. A
75-percent free-throw shooter, he missed the first
shot, Wisconsin grabbed the rebound and it appeared that the Orange was
in deep trouble. But SU's defenders did a superb job of badgering the
Badgers ballhandlers and making Taylor (17 points) take an uncomfortable
shot.

The
Orangemen should be lauded for converting 55 percent of their shots
against a Wisconsin team that ranks among the nation's top 10 in field
goal defense. SU's philosophy of trading threes for
twos worked. Wisconsin hit 55 percent of its 3s, but converted only 30
percent of their two-point shots. Syracuse, meanwhile, was 22-of-40 on
its two-point attempts and five-of-nine from beyond the arc.

I know
this has no bearing on anything, but during SU's run to the title in '03
they won two games in Boston (though they were early round contests,
not regional games). And SU also claimed a one-point
victory in their Sweet Sixteen game against Auburn that year, winning a
79-78 decision. Again, that history doesn't mean beans, but it's
interesting nonetheless.

Just one more game stands in the way of their fifth trip to the Final Four.